Connecting with any number of people on any level means fielding complaints. Lots of them. Every day. The uncontrollable urge to wail seems to be standard equipment, a natural part of each of us, like arms and legs. It must be in our collective DNA.
Disagree? Try tending bar, or working at a coffee shop or restaurant, just for a month. Trust me, you'll get your fill.
Bellyaching is nothing new. The Israelites moaned about captivity in Egypt 3000 years ago... then about freedom in the desert, then about the manna God sent to feed them. But they were far from the first or the last to voice dissatisfaction over their lot.
Complaints come in an astounding variety, both in the kind of complaint and the reasons for them. We've all heard grumbles from our parents, siblings, and spouses, about everything from the crashing economy to the dishes not yet washed and put away. This type of gripe is personal, one on one.
Mass protests are also a way of complaining, albeit for sometimes good reasons. Those who weren't born yet or who were too young to remember have probably seen footage of Viet Nam War and Equal Rights protests from the '60's and '70's. The recent Occupy (Fill-In-The-Blank) Movement(s) wanted to be like the iconic American protests of the past, but the Occu-protesters missed an important point: the Equal Rights protests were about equal rights. The Viet Nam War protests were about the Viet Nam War. The Occupy protests were about a multitude of things at once.
Because of their lack of focus they came off as, well, complainers, more so than as crusaders.
I often field complaints about something those complaints can't change – the weather. I won't get into global warming here, and about how if each of us just would do this or that the polar ice caps won't melt and we could save the world, etc. I don't mean to be flippant. The sad fact is, we won't all pull together. Too many people will do what they want to do no matter who it effects. That's in our collective DNA, too.
No, I love the folks who grouse every year about the winters here in northern Illinois. This winter was particularly long and cold, true. But for over a century, ever since 1913 when Henry Ford began mass production of the Model T, we have been an almost completely mobile nation. That means if you don't like the weather where you are, you can climb into your auto-MOBILE, and drive to a place that suits you better. Moaning won't change the weather, but the moaner can change his locale.
Impractical? Sure, but possible. In other words, stop kvetsching about the weather. It's above everyone's pay grade. If you're really serious, find a way to bug out of town.
And now, acknowledging the irony of it all, I am done complaining about complainers....
That is, until summer. The first person to gripe to me about the heat might just get an earful.
Disagree? Try tending bar, or working at a coffee shop or restaurant, just for a month. Trust me, you'll get your fill.
Bellyaching is nothing new. The Israelites moaned about captivity in Egypt 3000 years ago... then about freedom in the desert, then about the manna God sent to feed them. But they were far from the first or the last to voice dissatisfaction over their lot.
Complaints come in an astounding variety, both in the kind of complaint and the reasons for them. We've all heard grumbles from our parents, siblings, and spouses, about everything from the crashing economy to the dishes not yet washed and put away. This type of gripe is personal, one on one.
Mass protests are also a way of complaining, albeit for sometimes good reasons. Those who weren't born yet or who were too young to remember have probably seen footage of Viet Nam War and Equal Rights protests from the '60's and '70's. The recent Occupy (Fill-In-The-Blank) Movement(s) wanted to be like the iconic American protests of the past, but the Occu-protesters missed an important point: the Equal Rights protests were about equal rights. The Viet Nam War protests were about the Viet Nam War. The Occupy protests were about a multitude of things at once.
Because of their lack of focus they came off as, well, complainers, more so than as crusaders.
I often field complaints about something those complaints can't change – the weather. I won't get into global warming here, and about how if each of us just would do this or that the polar ice caps won't melt and we could save the world, etc. I don't mean to be flippant. The sad fact is, we won't all pull together. Too many people will do what they want to do no matter who it effects. That's in our collective DNA, too.
No, I love the folks who grouse every year about the winters here in northern Illinois. This winter was particularly long and cold, true. But for over a century, ever since 1913 when Henry Ford began mass production of the Model T, we have been an almost completely mobile nation. That means if you don't like the weather where you are, you can climb into your auto-MOBILE, and drive to a place that suits you better. Moaning won't change the weather, but the moaner can change his locale.
Impractical? Sure, but possible. In other words, stop kvetsching about the weather. It's above everyone's pay grade. If you're really serious, find a way to bug out of town.
And now, acknowledging the irony of it all, I am done complaining about complainers....
That is, until summer. The first person to gripe to me about the heat might just get an earful.